Can't Take the Sky From Me
by dontstopbelieving123
Summary: Wanting to prove her worth Mae sets out on her own to defeat Ren and find the map to Luke Skywalker. While trying to stay low she comes upon a familiar face, who is on the same mission as well and is willing to help her at any costs. Things are a bit difficult though with the First Order on the lookout for them(PoexOC)
1. Chapter 1

The girl closed up her hands and tried to pull them back into the sleeves of her jacket to try and create some warmth,even at her age it still was a bit big on her so it was easy to cuff the ends of the sleeves together. Despite its years of use, the old thing kept out the cold quite well. You wouldn't think that desert's could reach such low temperatures at night. It had been something that still amazed her when she made herself wake up every sunset to continue her trek. Jakku wasn't quite the safest place for travelling during the daytime, it was intensely hot and there were people out and about that she would rather not confront. Hence the nighttime travelling. If you were quick on your feet as well as with a blaster and gave it time for your eye's to adjust, one could attempt a successful way of survival. Luckily it wouldn't last for long though, she estimated that the end of her journey on the planet would only take one more night. Her original intent for being on this planet had become a lost cause and it still hurt her to remember the sights she found. In fact it had more than hurt her she had almost been furious at what happened. Finding the slaughtered villagers, had only fueled her to try and complete what she had sought out to do. After that, with a bit of investigating and overhearing a rather interesting conversation in cantina a second plan had come into action. Granted it was a bit of a distraction from what she had originally planned but she needed a ship and she knew just the one.

A small smile came across the girl's lips as she thought about the familiar relic she was traveling to. Keeping low had been doing her well. Granted finding the information she needed was harder than planned for just being on her own and it put her a step behind everyone else that was on the same mission as her, but it had given her the result she wanted. The aftermath of the completion of the mission seemed impossible to imagine for her though. If she did find what she was looking for what would happen next? Would it be worth her coming back out of hiding? How would everyone react, it wasn't exactly the most responsible thing to go missing. She could already imagine a couple choice swear words coming from her parents at her return.

 _Nope don't think about it just keep moving_ she internally told herself as her stomach clenched at the amount of thoughts racing through her head. It was a familiar saying she had told herself throughout her journey and it was an easy one to live by. The minute she had run off and made her final decision about what she was doing she had immediately wanted to turn back, and apologize for everything. But she hadn't, and she was proud of herself for that. She had grown on her own and become more independent. Maybe she was a bit on the anti-social side now but definitely more capable of taking care of herself. She let out a bit of an over dramatic sigh to not only break the irritating silence of the desert but to also just take a chance to breath.

And that's when it happened. It wasn't hard to notice the Tie Fighter falling from the sky that night. Especially when you're someone navigating through the dunes at an hour most don't even attempt to travel at. The tiny bursts of flame that emitted from the fallen ship caused a bright contrast against the dark night sky. The ship automatically ejected whoever was flying it as it free fell. The girl found herself running towards the fallen ship and almost lost her footing as it finally reached the ground. There was a burst of light that blinded her for a second. She held her hand over her eyes as she started walking forward.

It was a bit of a conflicting moment. Most likely she should have ran the other way due to the fact that Tie Fighters meant terrible news and that the First Order wouldn't be far behind. However, they didn't randomly fall off of Star Destroyer's either. Maybe it was a runaway or someone from the Resistance had shot it down. She reached into her satchel for her blaster just in case any of the pilots on board were still alive and up for an attack. Hopefully she could get any information out of whoever was in there before it came to shooting. If it came to that though, she had to make sure that she was the first one to shoot.

The cautiousness of her footsteps seemed irrelevant as it was already impossible to hear peoples movement through the sand but it was just a part of who she was.  
"Whoa!" she unexpectedly shouted as the toe of her boot caught on something and she ungracefully fell over well, more of a someone actually. She coughed out sand as she landed face first, but then quickly shot up with her blaster pointed at the body and detected no movement. The person was unconscious and on their stomach and she felt like she had somehow seen this person before. Seeing as the body hadn't moved and not caring about niceties she nudged the person over onto their back with her foot and saw a handsome and familiar face.  
"Poe?!" she exclaimed as she got back down again and leaned her head down on his chest to hear a light heartbeat.  
"Alright, you're alive good!" she smiled and then felt like she wasn't really reacting properly to the situation, but it had been so long since she had seen anyone that she could recall.  
"Now how the hell you got here, I have no absolute idea but it's great to see you. Just not this way but, hey what the hell you gonna do about it. Well I guess nothing since your unconscious and yes I know you can't hear me but this is the longest conversation I've had in awhile. I'm gonna go check out the rest of the wreck. Anyways stay, ok, stay there, you?" she awkwardly finished her sentence as she got back up and fished for her bag back in the sand. She found the satchel but discovered it a bit lightweight from when the last time she held it.  
"Oh no" she realized.  
"I'm leaving right before I-I-" she drifted off as she frantically looked through the sand. The item she was missing was one that she knew she couldn't depart with.  
"Hey Mae?" she heard the weak voice of the now conscious pilot say as he woke up. The girl paused in her movement and looked to her right to find what she was looking for.  
"Yeah?" she asked brushing a strand of light brown shoulder length hair behind her ear.  
"You dropped this" he joked as he handed her the hilt of a lightsaber.  
"Thanks" she let out a sigh of relief as she grabbed it from him.  
"So, good to see you" he added.  
"You too" she chuckled.

 **So hey good start? What'd you think I'm trying not to make it mary sueish but it's my first one for star wars and I just really wanted to write one for Force Awakens because it was just soooooo good and I'm kinda debating doing a kylo but meh who know's. Anyways have a lovely day.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Mae stuffed her hands in her pockets as she absentmindedly walked through the hangar. It was a quiet day for the resistance which was good and bad. It gave everyone a chance to breath and enjoy each other's company but it also meant that everyone was waiting for something terrible to happen. Either way it didn't matter to Mae as she spent most of her time standing in the background trying to help but not having anyone let her help. The problems going on with Skywalker's disappearance, the First Order, and Kylo Ren's rise to power effected her more possibly than anyone else. For the past couple days the thought of running away had plagued her but every time she deeply thought about it, she couldn't find herself justifying the true reasons behind it. Part of her knew that it was the rebellious side in her that wanted to stop being ignored that was behind this. However, another part of her knew that fear played a big part of it as well. If Ren got a hold of her would he attempt to bring her to the dark side or even use her as a bargaining chip for the resistance? Bringing her to the dark side would probably be easy as well, considering how vulnerable she was and that a majority of the time she felt the emotions that lead to it._

 ** _It's natural to be angry from time to time. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with that. If we didn't give ourselves a chance to have emotions we would just be droids. I mean look it's already happening to me_** _she remembered Luke joking with her once as he gestured to his hand, when he had come to visit and let her ask one of the many questions she had about being a Jedi._

 _Mae chuckled at the memory and began to examine the ships out of boredom. Also just on the off chance she would find her possible escape ship, if she ever did runaway. As she passed by a black x-wing she paused to take a minute and glance at the dings within it caused by multiple shots. It was a random fascination but she loved seeing these sort of marks on ships, it gave them history and stories. There was a beep next to her and something nudged her calf. Catching her off guard she lightly kicked at the thing out of reflex. Looking down she saw a orange circular droid roll backwards and almost look offended? It was actually quite comical.  
"I am so sorry buddy" she apologized getting down to the droid's height.  
 **As well as you should be** it seemed to beep at her. Mae laughed at the idea that she had insulted the little droid.  
"Well in all fairness you might have bruised a toe or too if that makes you feel better" she told it. It nodded at her.  
"Good we are even then" she agreed as she stood up and found the owner of the droid holding back laughter at her apology. It turns out the owner had been someone she had seen multiple times around the base. They had exchanged greetings every now and then as he sat in on most meetings for being the best pilot in the resistance. _

_"Hello Dameron" she nodded at him feeling a bit of embarrassment at what just happened.  
"Hello, Mae" he said nodding at her as he walked past her and began setting up the x-wing. She liked how he called her by her first name most of the time people tried to call her by her last name out of formality. _

_"Going for a flight I see?" she asked out of politeness.  
"Yeah it's a slow day might as well say I did something today"  
"That seems good" _

_Now they had reached awkward silence territory. Mae was a second away from whistling for no reason.  
"Wanna come along?" he offered.  
"I don't think I'd fit in there with you" she chuckled at the obviousness. Then he raised eyebrows for a second.  
"I was suggesting that you just ask to borrow one of the other ones" he smiled at her.  
"Wait are you calling me fat then?" he asked in mock horror making her laugh.  
"Honestly you're almost Hutt size" she commented back.  
"And no one said anything" he said. _

_"We just didn't have the heart to tell you. But now you know so, hit the weights" she said smacking him on his obviously flat stomach._

 _"Offer still stands" he said as he slid into the pilot's seat.  
"Another time" she nodded at him. The droid in the back beeped at her.  
"Sorry again bud, enjoy the flight" she nodded at it.  
"See ya Dameron" she waved at him as she took a step back to let it take off.  
"Poe" he shouted over the engines before letting the cockpits shut. Quickly covering ears as the engines began to fill the small space she watched as it took off and it almost gave her an adrenaline rush at the sight. For the first time in awhile she found herself truly smiling. She then felt a presence walk up beside her and an arm sling around her shoulder. She looked to her right and saw the familiar and rugged face of the once infamous smuggler.  
"Do we need to have, the talk then?" he joked with her as he looked at her. Her face quickly scrunched up at the idea as she shoved her father's arm off before they both laughed.  
_

* * *

There was a quick moment of silence between the two and Mae suddenly noticed Poe had a bit of a dopey smile going on. Cautiously she touched his forehead and found dry and fresh blood coming out of a wound that must have been caused earlier, not to mention his pupils seemed rather enlarged.  
"Hate to break this to you, but I think you might have a concussion" she told him the truth.

"I kinda fell out of the sky" he joked.  
"Smart ass" she chuckled as she began looking through her satchel.  
"This might help a bit" she assured him as she pulled out a strip of cloth that she often used to block out the sun while she was asleep.

"Apply pressure to the wound with it?" she assumed as she gave it to him.  
"The confidence in that sentence makes me glad for your medical knowledge" he admitted grabbing it from her and pressing it to his head.  
"Only seen people do it from a far, but that's better than nothing" she told him getting up now.  
"You good though?" she asked looking down at him.  
"I'll survive, there were worse things that happened today" he sighed.  
"So I take it the TIE Fighter was yours?" she asked looking out onto the horizon where the ships outline was still visible.

"Got captured onto a star destroyer but then I escaped, with help too. Wait Finn?" he suddenly realized and started to get up but stumbled a bit. Mae made an attempt to catch and was a bit successful as he put some weight onto her.

"You're not just going to walk it off, Poe" she told him as she carefully set him down.  
"You want to do something, hold the satchel don't take anything out of it and I'll go take a look" she told as she handed him the bag.  
"I am not being reduced to purse holder" he glared at her and she gladly returned it back.  
"If there was anyone who could walk off a concussion who else do you think it would be?" he gave her a sly smile. Mae's heart beat picked up for a second but she continued her glare at him.  
"I've been doing good on my own" she assured him.  
"Nothing's wrong with extra help"  
"My extra help needs to be conscious to help"  
"Mae" he sighed.  
"Poe" she commented back.  
"Fine" he agreed and she gave him a nod and stood up. As she began her trek she could practically feel him behind her. She turned around to find him several steps behind her with the bag over his shoulder.  
"You said I couldn't come with you. You didn't say I could hold the bag and be several steps behind you"

 **Sorry it's another short chapter but thank you guys so much for the positive response to this. I just wanted to write another chp for today so I hope you all liked it! I hope you have fantastic day.**


	3. Chapter 3

It turns out the TIE Fighter was further then they expected even at the hasty pace they were walking it seemed to take a few hours and the sun was already rising as well as the temperature. Mae took off her black leather jacket and carried it in her arm.

"So when you were up there, what happened exactly?" she asked him. Mae surprisingly found him silent, like he didn't want to remember what happened and just keep moving forward.

"He can look into your mind and extract information from it. It's invasive, painful, and wrong" he explained slowly. Mae felt a chill at the idea of it.

"Sorry you had to go through that" she apologized. He stayed silent and shrugged at the statement. Looking down he realized how close they were to each other and shoulder bumped her to get her to smile again. She rolled her eyes at the gesture and gladly shoulder bumped him back.

"I'm fine now though, look. I've gladly got the job of purse carrier and if I faint at any moment at least I have someone to protect me" he added.

"Still that mean's Ren knows where the map is?" she asked. Poe nodded not wanting to admit to his moment of weakness when Kylo Ren had finally gotten the information he wanted.

"Alright so not only are we on the lookout for a rogue stormtrooper, we also need to find BB-8, and try not to get killed by the First Order"

"Lot of stuff to handle right there"

"Smart though to put the map piece in the droid. Almost like you stole that idea from someone else? You are one hologram message away from being a captured princess Dameron" Mae joked with him as she remembered the story her mother had told her on countless occasions as a child.

"Who's to say it didn't work the first time, might as well work again. Although it looks like you are my only hope now Mae Solo" he chided back.

"She misses you, you know that right?" Poe told her.

"Yeah" Mae sighed.

"You wanna explain why you left in the first place?" he asked. Mae gave him a glare that almost was a spot on copy of the General's and he knew to not touch the subject any further. When they looked back at the horizon they both noticed something odd.

"Where'd the Tie Fighter go?" Mae asked the obvious. Suddenly the both took off at a run. It took them a little while but they finally reached the spot where they knew the ship had been.

"What happened? It was here, it was right here" Poe pondered aloud. Mae shook her head in confusion and then suddenly felt her feet sink into the ground. She tried to move away but they were almost cemented into the sand. She felt the heat of the sand begin to almost burn as she sunk down to her calves.  
"Poe" she called as she grabbed onto his arm for support but sunk lower. The heat was painful now and her legs felt like they were being crushed.

"Hang on I've got you" Poe assured her as he grabbed for her arms and began pulling but she sank lower.

"Don't let go of me" she shouted now as the hysteria of the situation got to her.

"Stay calm I've got you" he told her trying to stay calm but it didn't seem to give. The sand had reached to Mae's chest and she found it hard to breath. There was a break in the pulling though and using that to his advantage Poe used all of his strength to get her out and then he found himself falling back to safety as Mae landed on his chest. They both took a moment to catch their breath not caring about the awkward position they were in. Mae was practically shaking from her quick brush with death. Her skin had pinkish tinge to it from the sand.

"Thank you" she whispered to him after finally catching her breath.

"Of course" he said as if it was obvious.

"I'm sorry about your friend" she apologized. Knowing after what just happened there was no way, whoever was in that ship could've survived.

"Maybe he got away" he added optimistically. He felt her head nod in agreement against his chest.

"Both of you freeze" they heard a voice say next to them. Both of looked up to find two stormtroopers.

"You grab the blaster. I'll use the saber" Poe heard Mae whisper to him as both of their hands slid into the satchel.  
"Don't move" the other told them.

"Now" they both whispered in unison. They quickly got up. As Mae turned the green light saber on for the first time she felt a surge of power from holding the weapon. She had seen other's use a weapon like this, before but never had she known the feeling of responsibility and worthiness that came with it. The stormtrooper on the right immediately shot at her and reflexively she tried to block it with the blade. She watched as the shot bounced off of her's and flew back at the trooper hitting him instead. That had been easier then planned. From the lack of noise coming next to her she could decipher that Poe had also beat his opponent.

"How'd you get your hand on one of those in the first place?" he asked her looking at the weapon in her hand.

"It was never mine" she told him looking at the hilt as memories that came along with it flooded back to her.

"Was it-"

"Yeah, it was Ben's" she told him as she shut the weapon off.

"If they are already here that must mean more are on the way. We need to get back to the Resistance" Poe told her.

"You can go back. I'm going to find the map and then I'm going to find a way to defeat Ren" she said as they both put there weapons back in the satchel feeling anger at the person who had murdered someone close to her.

"I know where a ship is. I'll lead you to it and it can take you back" she informed him.

"Mae I'm not leaving you on your own again. You can't search a whole planet. I'll call for help" he told her. She was conflicted on what to do next.

"We get to the Falcon first and see what happens from there" she agreed with him.

* * *

"Anything else?" Kylo Ren asked the Admiral, glancing at an item in his arms. The admiral was a bit terrified to say the next part after watching what Ren had done to the control board, but he had already seen the item in his hand and it was useless to put it off as something else.

"They found our missing prisoner. He was accompanied by a female with a green lightsaber wearing this jacket. We are taking it through a scanner to have it ID" he muttered in fear. Ren grabbed the jacket and immediately recognized it. The last time he had seen it, it was being given to his sister by his father as she was crying at his departure to go train and be a Jedi.

 _"You two could make a great team. You could be a smuggler now with your jacket Mae and Ben you can become a Jedi. When he's done training the two of you can cause as much trouble around the galaxy as you like. You steal the things and he can keep them steady at saber point" He had joked_

 _"Han" their mother had chided at him.  
_

 _"Ok not to much trouble"_

"You weren't missing for to long now weren't you" he said to the jacket.

 **Hello everyone that is another short chapter again sorry about that. I just really like updating quickly but I swear longer ones will be coming as well as more flashbacks. Thank you everyone for your lovely support please review if you like it I love hearing stuff and I hope you have a fantastic New Years Eve and be safe everyone.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello folks quick info this whole chapter is just gonna be all flashbacks from different points in Mae's life just to get a more understanding of her character and how she interacts with everyone. I also just wanted to let you know that because usually I do flashbacks italicized but I decided to not have this all italicized to make it easier to read. Ok bye.**

 _Mother_

Mae's head was tilted to the side as she sat cross legged on the cool wood floor in the main room. She was dressed in her best clothes for the day, as today would be a day where she shadowed her mother around the base. It was the early morning and her mother had offered to do her hair to keep her looking at her best. She still felt tired from her early rise and the act of getting her hair brushed and played with wasn't helping. Luckily though, due to being tender headed, that didn't last long.

 _"_ Ow,ow, ow" Mae was not afraid to say out loud as her mother tightly wove the dutch braid at the top of her head.  
"Oh stop, I have had much more painful hairstyle's" Leia rolled her eyes in mock annoyance at her daughter's low pain tolerance.  
"Dad, she's torturing me make her stop" Mae shouted out for help.  
"Beauty is pain sweetie, suck it up. I was frozen in carbonite" Han shouted from the other room.  
 _Traitor_ Mae internally sighed.  
"You can't compare everything I complain about to being frozen" Mae retorted back.

"Dad's a drama queen sometimes" Mae whispered to her mother and Leia laughed at the statement.  
"Oh yes, you are one to talk" Leia said and Mae laughed at the truthfulness of it.  
"At least it's not the cinnamon buns" Mae gave a look to her mother.  
"I made those look good and I can gladly replicate that look on you" Leia offered.  
"Oh please do" Ben said popping his head into the room.

"Bug off" Mae sighed in annoyance as she threw a random shoe at him. Ben stopped the shoe in mid air without the blink of an eye. A split second later the item flew back and hit Mae in the face with a bit more force then had been intended. His parent's gave each other a look, they had noticed his power of the force had been getting stronger nearly every day.  
"I'll kill you, I will get Uncle Luke's light saber and shish kebab you" Mae threatened trying to get up but couldn't, due to the fact that her mother still had a hold on her hair. Ben showed no fear at his younger sister's threat and quickly retreated back to his room.  
"I'll talk to him" Han said heading in the direction his eldest had run off too.

"Thank you" Leia smiled at him. After a couple more seconds of silence Mae felt her mother finish off her braid. She turned around to get the confirmation that it looked ok and found her mother smiling at her. Leia loved both her children equally, but it still made her so happy to see how much her daughter had grown. The 13 year old in front of her had long dark hair like she used to and Han's charismatic eyes that hardly ever held back any emotion.

"So, good?" Mae asked feeling a bit weirded out by the way her mother was staring at her.  
"Perfect" she nodded getting up. The two walked to the door and grabbed their coats. It was a brisk morning even with the sun out. Leia heard a chuckle next to her as she looked at her daughter.  
"What?" she asked.  
"I think I'm actually gonna be taller than you. It's going to be hilarious when I have to hug you when I'm older" Mae realized out loud noticing the height difference between them.  
"True but you'll still be scared of me I'm sure from time to time" Leia assured her.

"True" Mae admitted knowing full well there was no temper worse to deal with than her mother's.  
"So, what exactly are we doing today?" Mae asked.  
"Well, there's a rescue mission going on today, what's left of the Empire captured a few of our best pilots to send a message that they're still there, they even changed their name and call themselves the First Order now. We sent out a crew this morning to go and get them" Leia explained.  
"Wow! That's-that's pretty dangerous" Mae summed up, getting the reality of the situation.  
"Do you think they'll make it?" Mae asked. Leia was stuck for a moment there on what to answer next. She was confident in her soldiers but there was always the worse comes to worse scenario.  
"I think they will, but I can't predict the future" Leia told her. Mae nodded, she wanted to seem like an adult in front of her mother but she didn't think that she wanted to witness the possibility of a failed mission. However, she knew this is what her mother wanted to tell her with today, that someday she was gonna grow up and probably help her out with the Resistance if things didn't get better, she would have to get used to things like loss.  
"Well, here we are" Leia said as she opened the doors into the control room. There seemed to be people everywhere around the room but the main focus was a circular table with a holo unit in the center of it, that was surrounded by six people. One of them was a boy who was practically the definition of tall dark and handsome but seemed to only be Ben's age.  
"General" one of the men around the table said and everyone stood up and stared at them. Leia gave them all a nod as they sat back down in their seat. Mae then suddenly found herself quite proud of her mother and the authority she had over everyone. She had known that her mother was a princess long ago, but liked to be called General now, but she hadn't known how much of an impact she had with the Resistance.  
"New recruit Captain?" Leia asked gesturing to the young boy. Mae couldn't help the pink spreading to hear cheeks at the sight of him.  
"Actually, I'm advancing him to pilot soon and possibly even more. He's one of the best. General, this is Poe Dameron" the captain introduced the boy.  
"It's an honor General" Poe said as he looked at Mae's mother in awe, the woman was practically his hero.  
"Thank you, I'll be interested to see you at your best Dameron" Leia nodded at the boy, totally taking notice at her daughter's new found silence.  
"This is my daughter Mae, everyone" Leia added. All attention was on Mae now and she just quickly nodded pretending otherwise as she took a seat next to her mother. Leia grabbed a comm's unit and began.  
"Red leader this is base do you copy?"she recited and out of her peripheral vision she could see her daughter look at her with pride and she loved the idea that her daughter looked at her as her hero.

 _Brother_

"Mae concentrate please" the young Ben Solo tried to bargain with his little sister. After discovering a few days ago how to manipulate the force at the age of 12 he knew that soon he would be old enough to train to be a Jedi. The nine year old little girl gave a frustrated grunt at her brother's tactics.

"We've been trying for hours Ben, I can't do it" she told him as she massaged her forehead with her hands.

"But you must be able to, it just wouldn't make any sense" he tried to figure it out. He looked at his younger sibling and the pebble in front of her. He tried to think about how he had done his first experiment with the force but it was hard to describe.

"Close your eyes Mae" he advised.  
"Again?" she whined, this exercise had been giving her a migraine and being hungry didn't help at all.

"Trust me" he said with seriousness now. Mae remembered several occasion's where the words trust me had ended in her with tears completely angry at her brother's idiocy and rudeness.  
"Mae, I'm serious" he tried to help her. The girl obeyed as she took a deep breath and cleared her mind. She tried as hard as she could to will the pebble in front of her to hover at least move and prove something, but after enough strain and realizing she had been holding her breath this whole time she gave up and opened her eyes.  
"Anything?" she asked in an exhausted voice. Ben shook his head and sat down on the pebbly shore by the lake. Mae sat down next to him and the two looked out onto the horizon.  
"Why does it matter whether or not I can use the force like you?" she asked him. Ben didn't want to admit it but he felt sad at the idea of one day having to leave his sister behind. She was a nuisance from time to time but also his first friend.  
"Luke and mom have it, I just want us to have it to. Don't you want to be special and fight with a light saber?" he asked her.  
"I would love to but it's just not going to happen" she told him.

"Plus I'm pretty sure not having the force in the family makes me the special one actually" she joked with her brother shoulder bumping him.

"True" he admitted, somehow she had made sure she was the center of attention once again.  
"I can just learn how to use a blaster and then if I lose it, you bet I'll make sure you're the one who is protecting me. No one is going to want to mess with you" she smiled at him.

"And I will make sure of that" he assured her. Mae thought it was nice to have a moment like this with her older brother, when he spoke to her as an equal it made them almost feel like friends and not just siblings.

"Ok it's getting to serious for me now" Ben admitted as he wrapped his sister in a headlock .  
"You nerf herder I hate you" Mae immediately shouted as she started to swing her arms to hit some part of her brother.

* * *

"Mae you can go home if you want to. You don't have to listen to this" Han offered as the family now stood out on the tarmac. They were waiting for a ship that seemed to travel at the slowest speed possible.  
"No I want to" Mae managed to whisper out. She couldn't believe that her brother had died. Part of her was hoping that what her parents had told her might have been misinterpreted and when the ship landed it would hold her older brother possibly injured but alive after the attack on the Jedi Temple. Everyone of the pilots or soldiers that passed by them would give them a nod of condolence but not make eye contact with them. Mae was practically shaking at the idea of having to face the truth of the situation.  
"Do you want to borrow this?" A voice said behind her. Mae quickly turned around to find Poe Dameron with a tan jacket on. She felt stupid for forgetting her own back in her room but she had been in such a rush to get outside and wait for the ship.

"No thank you Dameron, I'll be fine" she said trying to not make eye contact now as she started tearing up again. It seemed strange that the offering of a coat had set her off.

"I'm very sorry Mae" he said putting a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it before walking off.

"Dameron" Mae caught him off guard as he quickly turned around.  
"Thanks" she nodded at him, he returned it and continued moving back towards the barracks before taking a peak back to make sure that the young woman was still ok. Mae could still feel the warmth of his hand on her shoulder. That was forgotten though as the sound of engine's filled her ears and she took off in the direction of them. Forgetting her own safety she got cautiously close to the ship as it landed. The ramp lowered and the familiar figure emerged from on board with a blue droid behind him.  
"Luke" Mae said as she threw her arms around the aging Jedi.  
"Ben, is he-is he?" she didn't want to say it. Luke was unsure of what to say but taking a look at Leia watching the two he knew how to answer.  
"Yes, Mae" he told her. Mae felt her mouth dry up at the truth finally being set free to her and did not hide the tears that were being shed now. She felt her mother and father come over to her and helped hold on to her.

"R2 has something for you" Luke said. She got down to the droids height as a compartment opened and she saw a familiar lightsaber that she knew had belonged to her brother.  
"Thank you, I'll take care of it" she promised the two of them.

 _Father_

It was the early morning when she heard a noise. It might have been the paranoid part of her but she grabbed Ben's lightsaber, in case of facing an intruder, before she left the room. She was taken by surprise to find her father almost out the door.  
"Where you going?" she asked with a yawn at the end.  
"Sorry kid did I wake you?" he asked her. She nodded her head at him as she reached back and scratched her scalp.

"I'm heading out on the Falcon today wanna send me off?" he asked her. She gave him another nod as she ran off and grabbed his old jacket that he had given her. She slung it over her shoulders and was ready to go.  
"No shoes?" Han commented on his daughter's bare feet.  
"It's not that far of a walk and it was gonna take to much effort" she waved him off as they both left. They reached the hangar to find Chewie packing things up.  
"Are you gonna be gone for awhile?" Mae asked curiously as she looked at the amount of luggage he had.

"It's a job I found out in the outer rim" he said trying to not make eye contact with her now. Was he lying to her?  
"Can I come? I'll pack quickly" Mae offered wanting to get her mind off everything at the moment. It had been just a couple days ago that they had held a ceremony for Ben.

"Not this time" Han assured her.  
"I can handle myself, can't I Chewie?" she spoke to her family friend for support. The wookie shook his head at her.  
"You'll come back soon then right?" Mae tried to bargain.  
"I'll try" Han said. Mae took her jacket off and held it out to him.  
"Keep it, it suits you. It was getting old anyways I'll find a new one," Han smiled at her. She returned the smile as she held it close to her. The two hugged tightly.  
"I love you dad" she whispered to him.  
"I know kid, I know"

 **Welp there we go guys I hope you liked this little flashback chapter please review if you did and thank you all for your support and have a lovely day!**


	5. Chapter 5

_"Mom there has to be something I can do I can't just sit here at base and watch as troops go out there and don't come back" Mae complained as her and her mother walked back to their home after a briefing. Several supply ships were going out to villages terrorized by the First Order to help them replenish their goods with rations given to them by the Republic. On the off chance that maybe this time would be different Mae offered to help but was firmly denied the option by her mother/superior officer.  
Leia stayed silent as Mae tried her best to plead her case. She knew it was very selfish to keep her daughter at base with her but with things being the way they were she didn't want to risk all that she had left.  
"It's just a supply run it would be completely safe, it's the simplest thing I've asked to be a part of" Mae offered. Why couldn't her daughter realize that she wasn't immortal and that this war was more than she realized. Leia now realized that this had to be how her parents felt long ago when she had the same attitude about wanting to help out the Rebel Alliance, and that hadn't gone well for her. Things would be different this time.  
"Padme Amidala Solo, I understand your request but I have the authority to veto it and now is not the time for arguments I need you here, if there is an assignment I know that would suit you I will assign it to you. Please" she asked of her. Mae went silent for a moment at the mention of her full name and realized that she was being childish about not getting her way. She understood why her mother wanted her to stay and the thought of leaving her made her obey her wishes but there were times where she felt that she had no part on the base to serve. She couldn't fly a ship and didn't have the authority to make any __decisions, she didn't even know how to properly wield her brother's saber._

 _"Excuse me, I need to go and make a call real quick I won't be long. Sleep well **General"** Mae put in wanting to have the last word. She walked back to the base and was glad to find it empty as she sat down by the holo unit and grabbed one of the comm mics  
"F1 to base are you there, by any chance?" she asked the silent humming hopefully.  
"F1 to base come on, answer please?"  
"Dad?" More silence rang through her ear. It was a useless attempt. Nearly 3 years had gone by since she last saw her father. At first he held up communication with both her and her mother but afterwards whenever they attempted to make contact recently there had been no success. She let out a sniffle at the feeling of lonliness but quickly had to dismiss it as she heard footsteps outside the entrance. She turned around in her chair to find Poe Dameron coming down the steps. His movements stopped as he caught sight of the General's daughter.  
"I saw the lights on and thought we forgot to turn them off" he explained. _

_"Oh um no I was attempting to call someone" Mae explained as she bit her cheek to hold back tears, the idea of crying in front of people terrified her and this would be her second time of almost crying in front of him.  
"Success?" he asked as he leaned against the doorway. She shook her head and got up.  
"I'm leaving though so you can turn the lights off if you want and make sure your mission was a success" Mae smiled at him. Poe flipped a couple switches and followed her out. It was a beautiful evening with a full moon casting a white light on the lush planet.  
"Me and my squadron were gonna head to a cantina wanna join?" he offered.  
"Oh, are you sure?" she asked shyly.  
"Of course, why not?" he pondered, confused at her reaction.  
"I'm not a pilot, I'm the general's daughter" Mae summarized, it was obvious that some people had become very formal around her now that she had become her mother's shadow. Poe gave her a look wondering why that meant anything.  
"I'll just walk it's a nice night, I'll stop by the lake for a moment" she assured him.  
"I'll walk with you, you never know what you can come across" he offered falling in step next to her.  
"We've been on this base as long as I can remember I'm pretty sure there aren't any thieves or ruffians that will capture me" she joked.  
"I was talking about my safety actually" he bounced right off of her joking manner making her laugh. They made there way to the pebbly beach. It seemed like only yesterday Ben had been trying to teach her how to use the force so she could be just like him. _

_With the full moon that night the water reflected it's light perfectly. There was hardly any darkness on the shore. The two sat down and Mae dug her shoes into the ground to get a firm seating. She liked the silence of this beach it helped her clear her mind and just forget._

 _"You alright Mae?" Poe asked as he looked genuinely concerned at the dark haired young woman beside him. She looked at him and told him the truth as she shook her head at him.  
"I'll be fine though" she assured him and leaned against his shoulder. Poe was taken off guard for a moment at what she was doing.  
"This is the part where you throw your arm around me and tell me you know I'm going to be fine. I thought you'd be good at this comforting thing" she said. She felt Poe chuckle as he threw an arm around her and she felt the warmth of his hand, just as she had the night she heard about Ben.  
"Anything else?" Poe jokingly asked.  
"No this is fine for now" she sighed. _

* * *

"What's this place called again?" Poe asked as they reached the top of a very sandy hill that looked down upon a small stretch of civilization that didn't look in the best shape at the moment.

"Nima Outpost and supposedly it's where the Falcon is" Mae explained again as they cautiously walked down the hill. Not leaning further enough back Mae's foot slipped and she fell sliding a bit down the hill. Poe felt bad for laughing at the sight but still offered her hand once he reached her.  
"Sand is the worst. I'm going to be finding it in everything even a month after this is over" Mae complained as she took the offer.  
"No, the worst is when it gets in your food without knowledge and you don't notice it till there's a particular crunch" Poe agreed and Mae gagged at the idea. As they reached the bottom of the hill they noticed a familiar group of white uniforms.  
"More troopers" Poe pointed out the obvious as they ducked behind an abandoned cart. The groups of troopers parading around the outpost were talking to it's citizens about what happened. It was easy to eavesdrop on the conversations though as talks of a young man, young woman, and spherical droid had escaped the planet in an Old Corelian freighter ship.  
"Well there goes that plan" Mae whispered to Poe as they maneuvered around the shops.  
"Any other ideas?" he asked her. Mae took a look over her shoulder to see a patrol trooper heading there way.  
"None at the moment, and I'm sure our previous intervention with them has been noticed as well" she agreed, the fact that she had left behind her father's jacket hadn't gone by unnoticed from her and she had an idea now that that could've tipped them off on their arrival.  
"They had to have come here on a transporter ship. We can steal that" Poe summarized.  
"Are you insane?"  
"It's been mentioned a couple times"  
"Poe"  
"Mae" they bantered back and forth. Poe looked back again and spotted in the distance the transporter.  
"It'll be harder to catch us if we split up" he told her. She nodded at him in agreement.  
"Ready?" he asked.  
"Not really but that doesn't matter anyways" she assured him.  
"That's the kind of thinking that keeps you alive" he squeezed her hand. She squeezed it in return, and they split up. Mae cautiously ducked behind whatever she could find and was luckily undetected and had almost made it to the transporter.  
"I found the pilot" she heard one trooper say as they lead Poe forward.  
"Oh no" she whispered as her hand slunk into her bag to grab her blaster.  
"He's not alone either" another one reminded him. It was rash thinking and Mae knew it really wasn't what they were expecting but she had to save Poe and maybe the distraction would help. She crept closer to the trooper guarding over Poe and cheerfully popped out of her hiding spot.  
"Oh hey there" she joked as adrenaline pumped through her and before the trooper could answer she shot at them. The shot didn't go by unnoticed.  
"That was stupidly brave" Poe looked at her admiringly as they ran towards the transporter as fast as their legs could take them.  
"Thank you" was all she could think to say as they had finally made it. Luckily stormtroopers still didn't have the improved aim they had supposedly been working on.

"You man the control's and get us in the air I'll disable the tracking" Poe shouted as he ran off to a different part of the ship in a hurry. Mae gave him a terrified look at the statement but obeyed as she quickly ran to the pilot's seat.  
"Oh no, oh no, oh no. You know what-you know what I've got this I've-" Mae's mantra was interrupted as a blast ricocheted off the side of the ship and she let out a bit of girlish scream as it caught her off guard.  
"Everything alright?" Poe asked.  
"Yeah everything's fine standard procedure and what not ermmm ugh how are you?" she sheepishly asked to get the attention off of her, then rolled her eyes at her stupid comment.

"Mae come on I thought we'd be up by now" Poe said from the far back. Mae quickly took a scan of the buttons before her.

"Why can't these bloody controls just have the commands written on them" she sighed as she took a guess closed her eyes and slammed her fist down on a button the engines revved for just a second but then slowly died down.  
"Did you shut the doors?" Poe reminded her.  
"How's that tracker disabling going?" she asked ready for the real pilot to come back and help her out. Granted it probably wasn't the best idea but Mae had resorted to slamming her hands on any button to get it moving.  
"I still need time" Poe sighed. Mae heard the sound of the ramp rising and quickly hit the starter button again.  
"Wait Mae do you not know how to-" Poe's comment was quickly cut off as the ship rocketed into the air and he hit his head on the short ceiling in the main control hatch.

"I got us in the air" Mae shouted excitedly but it was short lived as more shots were fired again. She felt relieved as she heard Poe's pounding footsteps make their way to the front.  
"I can't believe this! You're the daughter of Han Solo and niece of Luke Skywalker how can you not fly!?" Poe said as he expertly leaned over her shoulder to take over.

* * *

 _"Get your elbow out of my stomach_ " _Ben complained as him and his little sister were jammed in the co-pilots seat with a seat restraint keeping them from hardly any movement.  
"There's no where to move so suck it up" Mae sassily told him as she shoved her elbow further into her brother's stomach.  
"Hey" they heard their father comment towards them as he flipped up several controls on the panel in front of him. The Falcon began to come alive within seconds.  
"Bleh I just got another hair in my mouth" Mae complained as she spit out pieces of hair. There was a roar behind the two children from the wookie they had known practically their whole lives.  
"I know, it's your seat in the first place" Han told his friend.  
"Why do we have to share this?" Ben asked his father.  
"It's so you two can bond. Also Mae's too tiny to sit in any of the other seats. I'd rather have her not move at all then risk having her sit on my lap and fly forward" Han explained and then had a quick realization of how far he had come from being a infamous rogue smuggler now.  
"Oh my god I've gotten old. I'm worrying about safety restraints" Han said to Chewie who laughed at him._

 _"Now this ship is not a toy you two, so be cautious with what you're doing and you'll both be able to fly this baby in no time" Han advised his two children.  
"So does that mean a ship is our older sister if you call it your baby?" Mae asked curiously.  
"I always knew I was the forgotten middle child in this family" Ben joked.  
"I'm still the baby in this situation who everyone loves so I don't have a problem with this" Mae bragged and the two stuck their tongues out at each other.  
"Knock it off we are being serious now" Han told them with a bit of a chuckle in his voice. The two children nodded at him. Han explained to them how exactly the ship worked and what buttons did what.  
"You ready to get her going then Mae?" Han asked his youngest. The little girl proudly nodded her head and looked at the board in front of her and realized she had completely been blocking out every single word her father had said. The technical terms had been to much to handle and made no sense at all. She looked to her father for help.  
"I'll start it up for you and then you hit the accelerators" He told her. Mae smiled at him thankfully. As the ship began to levitate Mae looked to her older brother for guidance. Her brother gave her a smile knowing the info she needed.  
"Flip the yellow switch" he whispered to her. She gave him a nod and did as her brother said. Unfortunately she had been foolish enough to believe him as she flipped the switch disabling all controls on the Falcon quickly making it plummet down with a harsh crash. The four were silent for a moment as they sat in the now dark ship and Han let out an exasperated sigh.  
"You two ok?" Han asked them first.  
"I'm sorry Daddy" Mae quickly apologized.  
"It's,it's-get off the ship please and see your mother for a moment" Han forced a smile on his face as he tried to remain calm. _

* * *

"It's a long story, but can you get us off planet now?" Mae asked hurriedly.  
"Oh you bet I can, Princess" Poe assured her. Mae was caught off guard by the new nickname but trusted him. The ship sped forward and made evasive maneuvers. They were just about to hit the edge of the planet's atmosphere.  
"Ok usually I like to try and do this once we're out in the black but it's better to lose them now with cover" Poe spoke out loud. He revved one of the lever's forward. For a brief moment Mae felt her stomach drop as if they were free falling and grabbed onto the armrests at her sides until the sensation left. The ship then bolted forward and all she could see were blurs of light in front of her as the ship went into light speed. It stopped abruptly pushing them both forward for a second and then they were surrounded by stars. Mae leaned her head onto Poe's arm for a second as the two caught their breath and took a moment to realize they had escaped. The pilot looked down and smiled at their closeness as he leaned his head on top of hers.  
"There's a reason you're the best pilot in our fleet Poe" Mae told him.

"Well I'm more than just a pretty face. But don't thank me for much of it I just got us out of there and these ships weren't exactly meant for long range travel" he explained.  
"By the way, princess?" she asked with a smirk on her face.  
"I mean technically you are. Sorry it slipped out that's what I call you from time to time. Not to your face obviously but ugh..." Poe went silent for a moment as he realized he was rambling.

"Don't worry I'm fine with it. But use it in a sarcastic or condescending tone once and I'll slap you silly" Mae threatened as she blushed at Poe's rambling. She got up and sat in the co-pilot's seat as Poe took her former seat.  
"So what do we do now then? If your friend Finn has the Falcon and BB-8 what's next?" Mae asked him.  
"What was your plan if I wasn't here?" Poe realized.  
"I'm stubborn I would've gotten the Falcon up and flying at some point" she smirked at him. They both leaned back in their seats and looked at the stars before them.  
"I guess we just call base and tell them our coordinates" Poe summarized his train of thought.  
"Are they going to believe it's us even if you make a call?" Mae asked.  
"That's where you come in Princess" Poe smiled at her. Mae nodded her head in agreement with him as he once again began fiddling with the controls and a soft hum played over the speakers.  
"I think I can get the frequency" he muttered as he bit his lip while concentrating. Suddenly radio chatter began to fill the interior.  
"Base this is Poe Dameron can you read me? General?" Poe put in once there was a break in the conversation.  
"Dameron is that really you?" the voice of Leia Organa filled the ship. Mae felt her stomach clench at it, she hadn't realized that even though she hadn't been gone for that long she had missed her mother's voice.

"10-4, sadly my part of the mission failed but there's still hope and I'm not alone" Poe said taking a glance at Mae. With a sigh Mae grabbed the comms unit and prepared for the scolding she would probably receive.  
"Hi Mom" she answered. There silence for a moment.  
"Padme Amidala Solo! Where have you been?!" Leia put in.  
"Ooh full name, that's not good" Poe joked with her as he grabbed it back and gave Leia the coordinates.  
"Stay where you are and power down so you're off the radar, we'll anchor you two back home" the woman assured the two.

* * *

 _"What's new General?" Poe asked as he followed the shorter woman towards the holo unit. Everyone was still waking up at the moment around the base but the pilot had found himself waking earlier than usual at the sound of General Organa pounding on his door about something important.  
"I just received this message this morning" she explained as she switched on a button. The image of Mae appeared.  
"By the time you're receiving this I've been gone a week or two now and hopefully I'm even back there and everything is fine. I just want you to understand that I did this to show you that I can do something. The next message is a mission I accepted from Maz about finding a map to Luke Skywalker. Feel free to do with it what you will" her voice echoed through the empty space as the transmission mentioned before played on.  
"Dameron, do you ever thinking about having children?" the General asked as she leaned against the unit.  
"It's not something that wouldn't happen" Poe answered taken off guard by the personal question.  
"Don't, they inhibit your worse qualities and throw them back at you and you still love them anyways" she explained and Poe gave the woman a faint smile at the statement.  
"I'm not doubtful that Mae is capable of doing this but she's still my daughter and we still need that map at all costs. I'd rather have two people searching for it. You've proven that you are the best we've got in the fleet Poe" Leia complimented him.  
"Thank you general"  
"I want you to retrieve the map and leave as soon as possible" she told him.  
"Absolutely General" he agreed with her but didn't leave yet.  
"What about Mae?" he asked looking at the paused image on the unit.  
"If you find her try and bring her back please" she told him.  
"I will make sure she is brought home safely, even if I don't make it, I'll try and make sure that she will" he assured her and the woman smiled at him.  
"I know Dameron" she gave him a look now and the pilot realized she was reading him like an open book.  
"I'm her mother I'm not stupid" Leia joked at him and watched as Poe uneasily bit the inside of his cheek at the discovery. _


End file.
